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Q&A with NCLC 2018 Presenters: Dr. Kevin Sharp

Practice compliance and success are not diametrically opposed!

ACA’s annual meeting, the National Chiropractic Leadership Conference (NCLC), is packed with great educational content and world-class presenters. Join us Feb. 28-March 3 in Washington, D.C., to hear from some of the profession’s most compelling thought leaders. Here we pose several questions to one of our featured speakers: Kevin Sharp, DC

After serving as the president of the North Carolina Chiropractic Association in 2001, I realized that our doctors lacked a clear understanding of how to effectively code and manage the business side of their practices. Simply put, our association was not serving this need and helping our doctors grow. Since then, I have taught thousands of doctors and their staff how to effectively code, document and be compliant in their practices in a way that motivates them. When you can break down the barriers of this aspect of what we do, doctors can free themselves up to focus on patient care. In addition, I show doctors how a compliant practice can be profitable—which many think is diametrically opposed! You can run a compliant practice and make it profitable at the same time.

Who should attend your presentation and why?

If you've ever sat through a documentation class and left feeling like your life will soon be over or "Big Brother" is about to show up at your office door, then you need to attend. Maybe you run an association and your doctors struggle with this, or maybe your insurance carriers constantly complain about how poorly your state’s doctors document or code for their care, and you'd like to add a new dimension. If so, you'll want to sit in on this presentation.

What about your presentation topic (or you) may surprise people?

This may be the first documentation/coding seminar that teaches you how to have a more successful practice.

Are there any new developments in your specialty/topic area that make your presentation at NCLC 2018 especially relevant or timely?

We're around two years post-ICD-10 implementation and this digital representation of your treatment is becoming more important to your billing and reimbursement. We will discuss this and other dimensions of your “treatment footprint” that can drive your success or failure.

What’s your best advice to a recent chiropractic college graduate (or, alternatively, what is your best advice to someone who has been in the field for several years and is looking for new challenges or ways to expand their practice)?

I've been in practice nearly 30 years at this point, and I still enjoy what I do every day. How many of us can say that? Whether you're new in practice or have been in practice for a long time, you can get beaten down by insurance carriers, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, attorneys and other third-party demands on what we do. You can't throw in the towel on billing or running an insurance-based practice. I have learned that most doctors simply don't know how to—or won’t—organize their practices and set up systems to run them that lead to a successful outcome. It's okay to make money in your practice, and it's okay to want to see a higher volume or unique patient type in your practice, but you need to build a business that's congruent with your vision.

Learn more from Dr. Sharp about this topic by joining us Feb. 28-March 3 in Washington, D.C. Register for the annual meeting today by clicking here. Join the conversation online by using the hashtag #NCLC2018.